The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-04-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"A Pungent Sermon With Sting
~-s-e ing Subject.
The Hornet as Typical OF the Small Annoy
ances of Life-Consolation For the
Overworked-The Improvement
Of Adverse Influences.


Overworked-The Improvement
Of Adverse Influences.
Rev. T. Dc Witt Talmage chose for the
subject Of a recent sermon in Brooklyn
Tabernacle .sStinging Annoyances,"
which he Illustrated from the text:
The Lord, thy God, will send the hornet
Deut vii, co. y s.ns@
He said: 1t seems as if the insect world
sssasss were determined to war against the hui
:. man race 1t is every year attacking the
grain fields, and the orchards, and the
vineyards. The Colorado beetle, the Ne
sssss braska grasshopper, the New Jersey 10
Gust, the universal potato destroyer, seem
TO carry on the work which was begun
ages ago when the insects buzzed out of
=. sNoah's ark as the doorwas opened.
In my text the hornet flies out on its
s@ mission. It species Of wasp, swift in
its motion and violent in its sting. Its
ssgsaa.s touch is torture to man or beast. We
have all seen the cattle run believing
from the cut of its lancet. In boy
ga hood we used to stand cautiously looking
at the globular nest hung from the tree
Aazvs branch, and while we were looking at the
sssas wonderful pasteboard covering we were
s@ss struck with something that sent US
shrieking away. The hornet goes in
=swarms. 1t has captains over hundreds,
and twenty sof them attacking one man
VIII produce certain death. The PersianS
asszs attempted to conquer a Christian city,
- zsbut the elephants and the beasts on which
s the Persians rode were assaulted by the
~ hornet so that the whole army was
80 broken up and the besieged city was
rescued. This burning and noxious IN
esm.sssect stung out the Hittites and Canaanites
from their country. Whatthe cleaning
sword and chariot of war could not accom-
plish was done by the puncture Of an in
So sect The Lord sent the hornet
asa My friends, when we are assaulted by
S. behemoths Of trouble-great behemoths of
trouble-we become chivalric, and we as
sault them; we get on the high-mettled
steed Of our courage, and make cavalry
charge at them, and If God be with US,
1--we come out stronger and better than
when we went in. But, alas for these in
sectile annoyances of lne-these foes too
ssHnall to shoot these things without any
avoirdupois weight-the gnats, and the
midges, and the flies, and the wasps, and
thes hornetsl In other words, it is the
y singing annoyances of our life which
drive us out and use up. Into the best
conditioned life for some grand and glo-
riOus purpose God sends the hornet.
remark in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come in
the shape Of sensitive nervous organiza-
80 ton. People who are Frustrated under
typhoid. fever or with broken bones get
plenty Of sympathy, but who pities any
body who is nervousl The doctors say,
and the family says, and every body says
"Ohi she's only little nervous; that's
all.n sss
The sound Of heavy foot, the harsh
clearing of throat, 9 discord in music, a
want Of harmony between the shawl and
the glove on the same person, curt an
swer, passing slight, the wind from the
least, any one Of ten thousand annoyances
opens the door for the hornet.
s. The fact is, that the vast majority Of the
q people in this country are overworked,
and their nerves are the first to give out
great multitude areunder the strain OF
ssLeyden, who, when he was told by his
physician that If he did not stop working
while he was IN such poor physical health
he would die, responded as s%
doctor, whether live or die, the
wheelmust keep going around.n
These persons of whom speak have
bleeding sensitiveness The flies love tt
light on anything raw, and these PEG pie
are like the Canaanites spoken of in the
text or in the ,context-they have very
thin covering and are vulnerable at al
points And the Lord sent the hornet.
Again, these small insect annoyance.
may come to US in the shape Of friend.
and acquaintance who are always sayine
disagreeable things. There are some
people You can not be with for half al
hour but you feel cheered and comforted
Linen bn6ro are oun0r people VINO can no
be with you for five minutes before yol
feel miserable. They do not mean to dis
turb You, but they sting you to the bone
They gather up all the yarn which the
gossips spin and peddle it, They gather
up all the adverse criticisms about you
person, about your business, about you
home, about your church. and they ma
your ear the funnel into which they pour
it. They laugh heartily when they tel
you, as though it were good Joke, ant
yous laugh too-outside.
These people are brought to our after
ton in the Bible, in the Book of Ruth
Naomi went forth beau tiful and with tn
finest OF worldly prospects into anothe
land, but after awhile she came bac
widowed, and sick, and poor. What di
her friends do when she came back to tn
cityl They all went out and, instead G
giving her common-sense consolation
what did they dot Read the book Of Rut
and find out. They threw up their hand
h and said:
ats this Naomii''
As much as to say:
"How very bad you 1ookp,
When entered the ministry locke
very pale for years, and every year, TO
four or five years. a hundred times year
was asked if was not in consum,
ton; and passing through the room
would sometimes hear people sigh an
cry:
sssA-ahi not long for this worldr'
resolved in those times that never, i
any conversation, would say any thing de
pressing, and by the help Of God hav
keptthe resolution These people Of whol
speak reap and bind in the great harvest
deldof discouragement Some days 70
greet them with q hilarious "Good morr
ing," and they come buzzing at you wit
some depressing information. The Lor
sent the hornet
Its astonishing how some people prefe
to write and to say disagreeable thing.
That was the case when years ago Henri
M Stanley returned after his magnificen
exploit Of finding DR.. David Livingstone